The visible invisible church

Hanover County, Va., was one of the centers of the Great Awakening that stirred the American colonies with religious fervor in the early 1730s. Until then, the Church of England was the established religious institution in the Virginia colony and all other denominations were either discouraged, suppressed or harassed. Religious dissenters in Hanover—including the parents of Patrick Henry—pressured the Governor’s Council in Williamsburg to license four “reading houses” where dissenters could gather in peace. Polegreen Church was the site of one. In 1747 a newly ordained Presbyterian preacher, Samuel Davies, arrived at Polegreen and became the first non-anglican minister ordained in Virginia. During his 12 years in the pulpit, he had a profound effect on young Patrick Henry. The church survived until the civil war when Confederate artillery trying to dislodge Union sharpshooters set fire to it. The white silhouette designed by Carlton Abbott on the foundation of the church makes visible and commemorates the profound influence this place had on religious and personal liberty in this country.